FCC: Pirate radio station operator must pay $10K

Federal regulators have fined a man $10,000 for allegedly running a pirate radio station out of a Manhattan garage.

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By AP

Dodge City Daily Globe - Dodge City, KS

By AP

Posted Dec. 7, 2012 at 12:00 PM

By AP

Posted Dec. 7, 2012 at 12:00 PM

MANHATTAN

Federal regulators have fined a man $10,000 for allegedly running a pirate radio station out of a Manhattan garage.

Glen Rubash, 59, of Junction City, has 30 days to appeal Wednesday's Federal Communications Commission fine. He didn't immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The FCC accuses Rubash of broadcasting on the 88.3 FM radio frequency, KMAN reported. The agency said Rubash was rebroadcasting programming from the Republic Broadcasting Network talk radio station.

The FCC wrote that Rubash "apparently willfully and repeatedly violated" the federal Communications Act by operating the station without a license.

On Sept. 26, the 88.3 signal was traced to an FM transmitting antenna mounted on a pole next to a Manhattan home. The FCC wrote that agents determined that the signal was strong enough to require a license but none had been granted to operate the station.

The property owner said that he allowed Rubash to use a detached garage to operate the radio station and thought the operation was legal because Rubash told him he was a licensed radio operator.

On Sept. 27, Rubash talked to the FCC and admitted that he purchased the radio transmitter and that the station had been on the air for two months, the FCC wrote.

"Mr. Rubash added that he would not voluntarily relinquish the transmitter if asked to do so," the FCC wrote.

The FCC said that because Rubash is a licensed extra class amateur operator, he "presumably was aware (or should have been aware) that operation of the radio transmitter required a license."